Hello everyone! The Illustrious Q here bringing you the latest My Little Pony Book News from BookCon! Starting in about 20 minutes is Hasbro's Ponies on the Page: My Little Pony the Movie Prequel Stories Panel! Soon, we will find out what Hasbro's plans are for My Little Pony: The Movie Tie-in Books!
And for some reason there's going to be a couple of voice actors named Andrea Libman and Ashleigh Ball who might or might not have voiced four characters in the show.
Unfortunately, due to BookCon's policy, I cannot post pictures from the panel. However I will bring you all the news as it's coming out live! Be sure to check it out after the break!
2:30 PM EST--PANEL OVER!
1:11 PM EST--Panel Starting Soon.
1:25 PM EST--Panel still starting soon. Room is filled with Bronies, little kids, Bronies, the kids parents, and Bronies. The Speakers from Hasbro are starting to file in.
1:35 PM EST--The Panel has started. Mike Kelly (the head of Hasbro publishing) has started introducing the panelists. Asheligh Ball, Andrea Libman, MLP Comic Editor Bobby Curnow, and Mary Kate Gaudet (Little Brown Publishing), and big surprise guest for the panel is MLP Comic Artist Tony Fleecs!
Mike is hyping up the show making it to season 7, and the movie release on October 6th! Jokes about how amazing it is to have the mane 6 cast reprising their roles for the film.
Full reveal of the Tony Fleecs My LIttle Pony prequel comic connecting covers. These look amazing! And very hollywood!
Andrea and Ashleigh are voicing AJ and Pinkie while talking about the seaponies! Applejack does her own stunts.
Andrea is talking about how much improvisiation was happening in the room, because the movie/story was still evolving during the production of the film.
Ashleigh felt more pressure because the movie is going to be on the big screen, the animation is being brought to the next level, so she really wanted to bring her A game!
Favorite Books for AJ and Pinkie:
Pinkie Pie: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Applejack: The Farmers Almanac.
Bobby on the prequel comic series: It was super exiciting. We got to read the script ahead of time and it was awesome! Each issue fleashes out of the new main characters from the film. They are stand alone stories, however there is an overall story that connects them in a overarching arc. The first issue focuses on Storm King. The second focuses on the Pirate characters. The third issue is about Capper, The last one focuses on Tempest Shadow.
UP next is The Prequel Novel from Little Brown, which actually intertwines with the comics a little! The Story Road to Canterlot--the first prequel book out, focuses on Tempest and her journey outside of Equestria! The rest of the series will be team up books with the rest of the mane six, set after the movie.
Rainbow Dash interrupts, complaining about how all the questions have been for Applejack and none have been for her!
Applejack was asked about how it was working with Capper: He's a real cool cat. He might be a little sneaky, can't say much but he is a really cool cat.
Pinkie Pie was asked about how the storm king is cranky. *untypable andrea libman fast performance describing the storm king as a big meanie*
Mike and Tony are talking about his process for creating covers for the My Little Pony comic covers. Started with the artist roughs for a Jetpack Comics cover. Pencils to inks to colors. Usually Tony gets a week's notice to get the covers done. It usually takes him a couple of days to punch through them.
Tony is giving big props to Heather Breckel and Lauren (his flatter) for their coloring work on the comics!
Story time at book Con! Andrea Libman and Ashleigh Ball reading a scene from one of the comics. The scene is from My Little Pony Friendship is Magic #53! It's the scene with the cave ponies!
I AM VERY HAPPY!!!
Mary-Kate is now talking about The Elements of Harmony: Volume II on Sale this Tuesday! Tony Fleecs has illustrated the story summarizing the first 3 seasons.
My Little Pony: Ponyville Mysteries, the new mysteries series by Penumbra Quill! it's a 6 book series!
Bobby on the comic book series having been published for 5 years. Currently showing the cover for Legends of Magic #1 (cover by Brenda Hickey). It is a history primer for Equestria. It goes back to the time of Starswirl the Bearded and looks into the legendary ponies of Equestria!
It is interesting to see how the actions of these affect the series in the present day. Tony Fleecs is picking up Legends of Magic with issue 7 (and go until issue 10), and will feature... the sirens!!!!
Concept art of Capper, Tempest Shadow, The Storm King and Grubber being shown on the screen. Grubber has been described by Bobby as an evil Spike who stole his heart.
10 minutes of QnA (Good Questions get a drawing)
Can you tell us what species Grubber is?
Mike: He is completely new. We are going outside Equestria for the first time and will see a whole slew of new species in the film!
How many comics are in the comic book series?
Tony goes through the various series, and assumes the series muct be close to 100 issues in total.
How did Fluttershy get Angel Bunny?
Fluttershy: I don't know. All I know is that he's really the boss and I have to do what he says.
Just looking at some of the characters, they've gone back to the previous generations for characters. Is that going to have any impact on the movie?
Andrea: I think the movie is pretty fresh.
How many years has Tony been drawing ponies?
Tony: About 5 years now.
How does Ashleigh juggle her voice acting and music careers?
We have agents that help us keep our schedules straight. It's a lot of planning, which my agent does really well.
Is there any long term plan for the comics? How many issues?
Bobby: Hasbro and IDW have to renegotiate the license every couple of years, but I'm game for forever.
Where is Rarity and Twilight Sparkle?
Tony holds up drawings of Twilight and Rarity: They're right here. Would you like one?
Question for Tony: Do you draw only ponies or do you draw the other characters and the backgrounds?
Tony: I draw everything.
I have two questions. How do you get all the ponies to fit in one image?
Tony: The unicorn and earth ponies have to be on the ground. Lucky 3 of them can fly! It's all about figuring out what you can do with them.
How do you get all of the ponies to fit their personalities?
Tony: That was easy! Because their characters are so well defined, and because you learn how to draw characters with attitude, it was easy to slip into drawing those attitudes.
Do you realize that the characters are getting a little older and are you incorporating that into the storyline?
Bobby: In terms of responsibility, all the ponies have been stepping up.
Mike: I think we've seen some nice character growth for all the characters with Twilight becoming a princess and Rainbow Dash becoming a wonderbolt.
And that's the panel!
